With much sadness we convey the message that Society member, John Goodall, passed away last Sunday night, in his sleep. John and his late wife Faye lived in an era where support for Cerebral Palsy people was severely limited. This lack of support did not stop them having a life of quality. They became very popular members of their Te Puke community. For many years John was a member of the Lions club and he was always willing to lend a hand with community activity. He set himself up in the lawn mowing business cutting lawns in Kiwi fruit orchards as well as private homes. In his spare time he developed his own garden, very proudly producing flowers and veggies, which he more often than not gave away.

May you rest in peace John, reunited with your best friend Faye.

A heads up on Auckland Transport's HOP Card

Total mobility’s certified assessor Michael Northcott looks into Auckland’s new smartcard ticketing system HOP. A system that aims to become a seamless integrated ticket for public transport throughout the Auckland region Background Some of our members in Auckland have been using a number of concession programs for a variety of bus companies. As a result, many of our members purchased a goRider Electronic Card that could be loaded with a dollar value to increase convenience and savings. The card works on the four bus companies run by NZ Stagecoach. Other companies like Ritches have their own electronic card system. With the morphing of the Councils into Auckland Council many things have changed. I had a number of calls from members who were concerned & confused by the new HOP program & the lack of information, particularly as there appeared to be a competing program from Snapper.

As it turns out Auckland Transport and Snapper have come to a joint venture agreement.  Snapper will plug the system into a wider electronic network once trains, ferries and buses from other companies join the system next year.  I have had meetings with both Snapper & Auckland Transport and gleaned the information below.

How it affects people
Both the HOP Card & the Snapper card can be registered online with the respective companies which protects the stored value in case the card is lost.

Both the HOP and Snapper card have to be tagged on and off the buses by holding the card within 2cm of the scanner. The scanner beeps once for a standard card & twice for an Accessible orientated card. Both the front and rear door of the bus have scanners so if you have concerns about exiting the bus safely you do have these two options available. However if you do not tag off, a penalty with be deducted from the card. The driver can ask to see your valid TM card if they have concerns (For HOP Accessible cards there is a onetime option of contacting Auckland Transport to get a refund).
The differences between the cards

HOP card can be loaded with both ten ride discounted tickets & eMoney. If you run short of value then you can get an IOU that is subtracted from the new top up. If your eMoney is in the negative your loaded rides with not work until recharged.

Snapper has a card that can be preloaded with eMoney.  This can be used with your TM Card to get the child rate on local transport as well as being able to purchase items from selected retailers; the card can be loaded at no extra cost from machines at places like Westfield shopping centres.

The Accessible cards all expire on 30th September (to ensure people renew their TM Card as most expire at the end of June 2011). The mechanism for upgrading Accessible Cards will be on the websites below, hopefully you will be notified via your email address as well.

If you have a goRider card, and a valid TM card, places like the CP Society and CCS Disability Action can punch the goRider card and issue a special Accessible HOP card, for free, onto which you can transfer the balance. I suggest that until the new program is fully onboard with the bus companies that you retain a balance on both cards, your GoRider is clipped to show a HOP card has been received. If you do not currently have a TM Card, and providing you meet the TM criteria which we can clarify over the phone, the CP Society can help, as we are an accredited agency with this program with two certified assessors. One of whom is myself and the other one is Janet Chapman. The links below have up to date information on these programs. www.myhop.co.nz/Pages/default.aspx On facebook www.snapper.co.nz/ especially this one www.snapper.co.nz/snapper-on-transport/ If you have any concerns please contact HOP or Snapper & cc myself as I will feed back to the respective companies for clarification & improvements, as this will affect all that use the new system. You can contact me at michael@cpsociety.org.nz  0800 503 603, 021 020 56677 On the Cerebral Palsy Facebook page, under the discussions section, there is some basic information and a place where we encourage you to add feedback on your experiences. I will feedback your suggestions to HOP and Snapper so improvements can be made. As things develop I will add anything that I find out. Michael Northcott